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HOME :
Pre-Columbian Art :
Costa Rican Chocolate Pots : Guanacaste-Nicoya Terracotta Chocolate Pot
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Guanacaste-Nicoya Terracotta Chocolate Pot - PF.3210
Origin: Guanacaste, Nicoya, Costa Rica
Circa: 100
AD
to 700
AD
Dimensions:
16" (40.6cm) high
Catalogue: V16
Collection: Pre-Columbian
Medium: Terracotta
Location: United States
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| Description |
"The product of artistic efforts intends to convey
messages, to elicit sensations, to arouse feelings,
to kindle emotions, and to provoke profound
thoughts. "
(Francisco Valdez, Amerindian Signs)
The creation of this fascinating vessel emerged
from the collective need to outwardly express
common beliefs and feelings. The aesthetics,
rhythm, harmony, handling of shapes and
volume are sensorial instruments this artist has
used to reach the mind and soul of the viewer.
As seen in this fascinating vessel, artistic beauty
does not merely reflect the visible world; its
strength and rhythm reside in the ideological
content of the message conveyed. The
zoomorphic turtles with their humanistic
expressions and the anthropomorphic creatures
with their long curving bodies are manifestations
of this ancient civilization's philosophical
concepts of the universe. All of the creatures'
attention is focused towards the center of the
long tubular part of the vessel, which may have
contained precious contents at one time. This
vessel is artistically beautiful because it is not a
mere reflection of nature, but a production of the
mind. In order to channel the cosmic energy
towards the community, rites and ceremonies
took place to venerate and placate the forces of
the universe. We can assume that this vessel was
essentially a symbolic language, full of visual, as
well as audio (the tripod legs are rattles), signs
and codes that evoked and courted the forces of
the universe during ceremonies. Now, it
magically summons our undivided attention and
forces us to look within our own inner selves.
- (PF.3210)
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